Twenty-six percent of businesses using Twitter say they'd pay for the right services, and that might just be good enough.

WebBizIdeas.com polled 850 Twitter business users about what services would lead them to pry open their wallets. Three quarters of them said they either weren't crazy or were unsure about paying for additional features like analytics (31% and 43%, respectively), which sounds like a menacing amount. Yet, the size of this social media environment may make the 26% sufficient.

Twitter's a pretty lucky company. Few get two bytes at the hype apple in rapid succession, but this social media platform has found a way to make up for its disappointing announcement about its advertising model. According to VentureBeat, Twitter might unveil its long-awaited, heavily-hyped and possibly investor-satisfying corporate accounts. Next month, at its inaugural Chirp developer conference, we could finally see what might just be the foundation of Twitter's business model.

Apparently, all the hype wasn't worth it. After Twitter COO Dick Costolo explained that the company was going to unveil a "non-traditional" advertising model and claimed that "people will love it," what we're seeing is a foray into decidedly charted territory.

According to AllThingsD, Twitter's ad model will resemble the one that has been so successful for search and online ad giant Google (GOOG). Ads, essentially, will be tied to search.

Yawn.

The New York Times (NYT) has been struggling to figure out the web, which has led to a debate over whether to charge for electrons that has spanned years. Well, the Times seems likely to take the plunge, hoping to replicate the successes of the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal ... except, of course, that the Wall Street Journal is famous for not really delivering profits. Fortunately, the new pay wall is expected to look more like the Financial Times than the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times is considering a "metered" system. Visitors will be able to read a certain number of articles free before being required to subscribe.

A friend of Arthur Sulzberger, according to New York Magazine's Daily Intel, said that the final word could come in a few days, a sentiment corroborated by a newsroom source who said that the plan could be announced within weeks. Yet, plans need to be implemented, so it could take months for the Times to begin charging for content.

Google (GOOG) just picked up another promising startup in its effort to gain some ground in the online visual advertising market. Teracent, which was formed three years ago, is becoming part of the search engine giant.

Yahoo! (YHOO) currently leads the market in display advertising sales, and Google has been trying push into the space. Last year, this led to its acquisition of online ad service DoubleClick, but that was a first step rather than a total solution to Google's display ad ambitions.

Twitter calls Google (GOOG) a "good role model," but says it isn't ready to rush down the road to advertising.

Nonetheless, an ad-based revenue model is something that cofounder Biz Stone says they "will be looking to do down the line." But, for now, he continues, Twitter is focused on "creating value for our users." For now, revenue generation ideas are being put on paper, "and we're definitely going to get to them," Stone says.

We've put three quarters behind us in 2009, and the most recent one was merely another miserable step downward for the beleaguered newspaper industry. Total ad revenue plummeted in the third quarter to $6.4 billion for the print jockeys, a decline of 28%. This info from the Newspaper Association of America drives home the notion that conditions will only worsen for the newspaper industry. So, if you're hoping those shares of New York Times Company (NYT), Gannett (GCI) and Washington Post Company (WPO), holding your breath will leave you little more than dizzy.

Of the total advertising revenue generated in the third quarter of 2009, $5.8 million came from print, the lowest quarterly amount this year. The $623 million in online advertising sold by America's newspapers was also 2009's worst. Both are down substantially from the same quarter in 2008, when the newspapers posted print ad revenue of $8.2 million and online ad revenue of $750 million, according to NAA data. At this time last year, we lamented year-over-year declines approaching 20%. Now, we have the same feelings as ad revenue drops approach 30%.

The Twitter ecosystem may be changing constantly, but most of that comes on the back of individual developers and outside companies. They beat on Twitter APIs to create new products that may win them glory, recognition or cash. Over the past month, though, Twitter itself has gotten into the game, releasing or announcing a handful of new features.

A new function for "retweeting" (echoing another's tweet to your own followers), changes to how trending topics are managed, and the ability to create lists are new tools intended to engage users ... on the Twitter.com website. Considered within the context of Twitter's changed terms of service this year, the upgrades may be part of a broader ad-based revenue plan.

The number two search engine in the United States turned in a fantastic third quarter, far ahead of expectations. Cost-cutting, layoffs and business divestitures led to a surge in Yahoo's (NASDAQ: YHOO) profits and a 4.8% increase in share price in extended trading on Tuesday evening. Net income more than tripled to $186.1 million (13 cents per share) from the third quarter of 2008's result of $54.3 million (4 cents a share). Sales (exclusive of fees passed to partner sites) reached $1.13 billion, slightly above the $1.12 billion expected by analysts, according to a Bloomberg survey.

With the advertising market in rough shape and competition from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) continually rising, Yahoo refocused on its core properties: the home page, messaging and mobile services. The company trimmed what it didn't need, which is why it was able to boost its earnings even with a decline in revenue. Increased ad revenue from auto manufacturers, travel companies and consumer product manufacturers also helped.

Yahoo's chief financial officer, Timothy Morse, says that the company's markets are "starting to stabilize." Of course, Yahoo itself must be doing something right: its share price is up 41% this year.

Facebook is making the biggest ad splash since Google, according to an article in the Financial Times.

More than four-fifths of the largest advertisers in the United States have turned to the social networking platform to promote their wares -- after several years of fearing these types of communities. The lure of Facebook must have been too much to resist, with 340 million monthly unique visitors. Now, it's not unusual to see the likes of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Nike (NYSE: NKE), and AT&T (NYSE: ATT) advertising in this world.

According to a Reuters story, Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) is thinking about launching a free online word processor and spreadsheet suite. The business model would be based on ads.

After all, Google is making headway with its own applications – Writely and its new spreadsheet. Of course, there are other upstarts offering online suites.

Interestingly enough, Microsoft may use one of its old products (which has had little traction over the years): Works. This is desktop software that is usually pre-installed on new PCs.

This is definitely a tricky thing for Microsoft. The problem, of course, is protecting the Office monopoly, which accounts for about a quarter of Microsoft's revenues.

Why pay for it if there is a free version?

The good news is that – at least for the business market – its hard to see an ad-model working. Do businesses want their employees to get bombarded by ads? Probably not.

But the consumer market is big, too. And with the competition from Google and others, it looks like revenues could get light on this side of the Office business.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.